Thursday, October 30, 2014

Hey guys. What's happening in K town?? Things are going
great here in Sullana! But for real. I really do love this area. The people are
cool. And it's super pretty. The only problem is that Sullana is probably one
of the hottest cities here in the mission. It's hotter than Piura, that's for
sure. And to think that we're still not even to summer. I don't know how I'm
going to survive. But I guess whatever comes, I'll have to make the best of it!

Working this last week with Elder C has been good. He's a
pretty funny kid. He has a super dry sense of humor. But when he tells a joke,
it's super funny. I die laughing! jaja But it's been good! I like working with
him a lot!

Well anyway. We have a new family that we are teaching! I
might have mentioned them last week or the week before, but I can't remember. A
couple of weeks ago we found a less active member named F R. He was baptized a
long time ago when he was part of the young men's program. But when he was like
16 his mom died, and he moved to another place where there wasn't the church
and started to make some not-so-great decisions in his life which have led him
to where he is now. A few years ago he was super alcoholic. And so anyway, he
realized that he really isn't going anywhere with his life and so he wants to
change. He has been trying to give up alcohol for a while. And he has changed a
lot. Now he only drinks every once and a while on the weekends. But he wants to
leave that entirely behind! So were helping him! And the good news is that his
wife isn't a member! So we're teaching the two of them! They have a little girl
that is like 5 years old and they say that they want to change their lives to
give the best of what they have to their daughter who means everything to them!
But anyway, they're super cool! And we've been teaching them for a few weeks
and they are finally starting to progress and keep their commitments that we
leave with them! So I'm super excited to keep working with them! Honestly I
want to help them! It's kind of weird. When I met them for the first time it
was like I had a ton of love towards that family. Like knew them before! Pretty
cool! Kind of hard to explain though! But anyway, they're super great!

Wednesday was fun! Taking Elder C to Marcavelica so that he
could get to know it. Marcavelica is super sweet! And there are some super cool
members in Marcavelica! The two days a week that we get to go to Marcavelica
are the best! For real! But anyway, one of the super cool people in Marcavelica
is M N (a recent convert). She is the one that has the parrot that tells people
to shut up. jaja. But anyway, right now the two of us are trying to see who can
finish the Book of Mormon faster. I was almost sure that I was going to win.
But Wednesday we went and visited them and she had read like 100 pages in like
4 days. She is reading a ton! So that means that I have to pick up my reading!
The only problem is that as a missionary it's sometimes a little bit hard to
find extra time to read! So that means that in every spare minute I have, I'm
reading the Book of Mormon! It's worth it though because the Book of Mormon is
amazing!

And a cool thing happened with her parrot this week. So that
bird pretty much hates the missionaries because they always bug it and do
things like poke it with their pens and stuff. So he pretty much hates anyone
in a white shirt and tie. But I've been trying to gain his confidence. I feed
it things that it wants. It loves to eat chocolate crackers and stuff like
that. So anyway, after feeding him a cookie, he bit my finger super hard and it
started bleeding. But Elder Baker never gives up. I'm going to fight until the
last day of the mission! jaja. But anyway. I kept going. And I guess that now
that we're blood brothers he likes me. So he actually climbed up onto my arm
and onto my shoulder. We're the first missionaries that it has ever liked!
Pretty cool, no? But anyway, as soon as it got up onto my shoulder it pooped on
my shirt. And the funny thing is that I wasn't even upset at all. Because I was
so happy that it had finally climbed up onto my arm!

Hmmm... should I bite his ear?

Thursday went well for us. We had a zone meeting! Which was
super great. Probably my favorite part of it was when we talked about the
difference between a testimony and conversion. A testimony is when you know
that the church is true. But being converted means that you have a testimony
and that you act upon it and obey the commandments and do what you should do.
And then the zone leaders asked us a super sweet question. They said, "Is
the way that you act as a missionary showing that you have a testimony or that
you are really converted?" THINKING TIME! My favorite! I love questions
that make you think. And then they asked us another super sweet question. They
talked about before the mission when we were preparing to come and they asked
us, "What did you want to achieve as a missionary? Are you doing
it??" BOOM! Another great thinking time! The thing that I love about
questions like that is that it helps you realize where you weaknesses are and
where the areas are that you can improve. Because we all have weaknesses. We
have to make those weaknesses strong though!

Sunday was super sweet! TONS of people came to church! The
chapel was completely full! We ended up having to give up our seats so that
others could come in! I love it when tons of people come to church. It makes me
happy to see so many people taking part of all of the wonderful blessings that
our loving Heavenly Father is offering unto us! I love the church! I'm so
grateful to be a member! I love being able to partake of the sacrament every
single week. During the mission I have been able to change the way that I look
at the sacrament from being a repeated thing that we do every week, to a way to
really apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life! And now with this
different perspective, going to church has such a different meaning to me! It
is SO important in our lives!

Well, sorry that I don't have much time to write about more.
The P family is still progressing! So that's great! And we are finding more and
more people to teach every day! Thanks for all the love and support! You guys
are the best!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Well the big news for this week......
my companion was transferred to Piura. So that means that I have a new
companion here in Sullana which I'm super excited about! Today is his first day
here with me. He seems pretty cool. But then again, I only met him like 4 hours
ago. But anyway, his name is Elder C. And he is from Cusco, Peru. Want to know
something crazy?? He lives like 3 hours from Machu Picchu. But that's not the
crazy part--the crazy part is that he has never ever gone to visit Machu
Picchu. Are you kidding me???????? People come from all over the world and pay
tons of money just to do that. And he could do it for like 10 dollars. And he's
never done it..... jajaja. Supposedly that is pretty common in Cusco though.
Supposedly there isn't a ton of hype to visit it. I don't know if I'll ever
understand, but whatever though....

Missionaries from my District

My last week here with Elder E went
pretty well! I learned a lot from him. Lots of Christ-like attributes that I
was able to work on. It was good working with him. He really is a good missionary.
He is here to invite people to come unto Christ. And he is able to do that. I
hope that he was able to learn a little from me. Because I sure learned from
him. With every companion you learn new things that help you improve. The
mission life is great!

So, the P family is doing well! They
came to church on Sunday, but only for sacrament meeting. We taught them the
Word of Wisdom this week. And it went really well. They aren't alcoholics, but
they do drink beer at fiestas and other events, just like every other Peruano.
But when we taught them the commandment, they committed to abandon those things
in their lives! Pretty cool! I love when you teach something and the spirit
testifies that it's true. The Word of Wisdom is legit. I'm honestly so grateful
for it. I will never ever ever try alcohol. I'm so sick of seeing drunk people
in the streets. I have seen so many broken families because of alcohol.
Honestly there is nothing about it that is even appealing at all!

The sister missionaries in our district
got sick this last week after eating seafood in a restaurant with some
investigators. So they were sick in their apartment for like 2 days. Even
though they were sick, they still had to go and teach some last minute things
to their investigator that got baptized on Sunday! I got to do the baptismal
interview on Thursday which was cool. I love baptismal interviews! One of the
best parts about being a district leader.

Yesterday was pretty cool! There was
a massive baptismal service in the stake center for all of our zone. Like 4
companionships of missionaries had baptisms yesterday, so they decided to do
them all together. In all, there were 11 people that were baptized. Which was
super cool. We were able to take some investigators to it, which was great. But
for real it was so cool seeing like 20 people dressed in white. All those who
were baptized and all of the people that would do the ordinance. SUPER SWEET!
President Rowley came and spoke which was good. But my favorite part was when
all of the people got to bear their testimonies afterwards. Especially the
little kids. jaja. They are so funny sometimes. Baptisms are the best.
Hopefully real soon we will be having some here in my area! I'll be keeping my
fingers crossed. But more than that, I'm going to work harder than ever before.
I'm going to work until I can't do anything more! The Lord really is hastening
the work. And I'm so grateful to be a part of it!

Well
hello there family, including Lauren...... How are y'all. I'm not going to lie.
It's pretty crazy to think that Lauren is home from the mission. Seems like
just yesterday she left. But time has passed by.

Well as for me, I'm doing well.
Things here in Sullana are good. I don't have much time today. And I was kind
of excited about reading all your emails, hearing about Lauren and seeing all
the pics. But anyway, I'll still try to write a little bit for you guys about
what has happened! Next week the letter might be a little bit longer...

A river in Sullana

This last week passed by slowly but
surely. I’ve found something out on my mission as I have worked with many
different companions. I have to focus on the good things that they each add to
the companionship. No matter our differences, we have the same purpose, which
is to invite people to come unto Christ. And we have to forget the differences
and focus on what we have in common and work towards that goal we have and then
it’s all good.

My district in Sullana

Well
anyways. For sure the highlight of this last week was Saturday and Sunday. You
guys got to watch General Conference one week before us. But we couldn't because
it was elections week. But this last week we got to watch it! And it was
sooooooooooooo good. I love General Conference. I watched it in Spanish again.
And want to know something cool? After it was over I realized that I was able
to understand everything the entire conference. Which is pretty crazy because
last year in October I wouldn't have gotten hardly anything out of conference.
Maybe a little bit of the songs that the choir sings (because those are in
English). But this time it was great! And it was super cool that they let some
people give their talks in their native language! There were two in Spanish
which was super cool! It meant a lot to the people here in South America. Lots
of people have said things like they wish they could hear the apostles and
prophet speak with their own voices and not with a translator. So this conference
there were two people that gave their talks in Spanish. And Richard G. Scott
always gives his talk in Spanish because he records it in Spanish before the
conference. Looking back on it, I really don't know if I had a favorite talk or
anything. My favorite part was everything! The part that I could feel the
spirit strongest though was when El Coro Tabernaculo Mormón sang How Firm a
Foundation. I could feel the spirit so strong. I love moments like that!
Moments like that make me completely sure that this isn't a joke. It's the real
deal. I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints!

In the park after General Conference with Elder T--oh yeah, and Barney!

As for how the P family is going...
We were able to teach them once this last week and the lesson went super sweet!
They are progressing a ton! And on Sunday they came to the conference to hear
the prophet speak to us! And they liked it a lot! So keep on praying for them!
This week we are going to visit them 2 times! They are super sweet!

Marcavelica

We were able to teach R R this week
for the first time in almost 3 weeks! (Because he got a new job.) Which is
good, but it also presents a challenge because he works from 7 in the morning
until 8 at night 7 days a week. But we had a great lesson with him! And he is
super excited to learn more about the church. He is looking up a lot to his
cousin that just got his mission call to Uruguay Montevideo. So that's
sweet!

We were able to teach F B again yesterday!
And she is super sweet! There are members visiting her! And she is super
excited to attend church with us for the first time this next Sunday! She is
one of the most intelligent people that I've met on the mission. And she is
progressing a ton! She has super great questions. My companion is kind of
scared of her questions though because he says that lots of times he doesn't
know how to respond. But I'm not scared because I know that if I don't know how
to respond to something she asks then I can just bear testimony of what I do
know and let the spirit testify and give second witness! She's super
sweet!

Well anway, those are our 3
investigators that are progressing for now. Keep praying for them please!
I'm super excited to be here in this area. Even though there have been lots and
lots and lots of challenges, I'm learning a ton! And I love being a
missionary!

This next week is the last of the
transfer. Saturday night we'll be finding out about transfers. Elder E and I
are anxiously waiting for Saturday! He has 3 transfers here in this area and he
could be leaving, but it is also possible that he will be staying one transfer
more. Who knows. But whatever happens, I know I'll be okay because I know our
Heavenly Father directs this work! Everything happens for a reason!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Hey guys. How are ya? Crazy to think
that Lauren will be leaving Australia in a little more than 24 hours. Are you
guys ready? That's absolutely crazy thinking about! How time passes. I remember
like it was yesterday when we were sitting at In n Out in Provo before heading
over to the MTC to drop her off. Time has passed by fast, that's for sure! I'm
grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve at the same time as her.
It's going to be kind of sad not being able to say that I have a sister that is
a missionary just like me on the other side of the world. But whatever.
Everything happens for a reason! That's one thing that I'm 100% sure of. She
has been able to do some amazing things over this past year and a half, and now
she's got something new in front of her! Love you Lauren! Don't feel sad. Feel
happy for the chance that you had to be in Australia! And for the opportunity
to share the gospel with others! It is such a great blessing!

So this last week went super fast.
But then again, which week doesn't feel like it goes by quickly!

Last Monday night we had a visita de trabajo. This time I was with Elder A who
is from Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is a super cool kid! He is 25 years old. And it
was great working with him! Tuesday went pretty well for us. District meeting
in the morning. The zone leaders decided to attend our meeting. But that's okay
because our zone leaders are sweet! And anyway, that afternoon went well.
Except that it was super hot. And that I got sick. jajaja. Just my luck, no?
But it went well. Even though I was getting sick we still decided to go and eat
hamburgers in a restaurant called Queen Burger. jaja. Burgers and Inca Kola.
There isn't much better. But for real! I have no clue what I'm going to do
after the mission without Inca Kola! Why doesn't everyone drink it in the
states? It's so good!

Wednesday kind of stunk. Because I
had a headache, my throat hurt, and the water spout of my nose was turned on
and I couldn't figure out how to turn it off! But anyway, I'm not going to
write much about that day. Because it wasn't too fun.

Thursday was a lot better! In the
morning we had a service project! We painted an apartment on the second floor
of our apartment building. C C from the ward helped us with it! It was super
fun! And after we finished, Hermana M gave us a 3 liter bottle of Inca Kola.
That was nice. 3 liters. Inca Kola. That is a GREAT combination! jajajajaja.
Why aren't there 3 liter bottles of soda in the states?? Peru has got a few
things on the states..... But anyway.

Beker Paint

One of the best days of the week was
Saturday when we went to Marcavelica. Marcavelica is super pretty! And we are
teaching the P family! Which is going super well! Luckily this time E's mom
didn't come and ruin the lesson again. We had the lesson with E and his wife, D.
It was a super spiritual lesson. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and
then at the end of the lesson we invited them to be baptized on November 15th!
I'm super excited because they accepted! That date is a little far away. And I
wanted to set a date for the end of October, but something inside me said that
that wasn't right. So I figured that it was a prompting from the spirit so I
did what felt right even though it wasn't what I really wanted to do. But now I
know that the 15th of November is perfect for them! Because they still have a
little bit to go before they have super firm testimonies, but they are going to
get there! And we're going to be here the whole time to help them!

So anyway, while all of you guys were
enjoying General Conference this weekend, I was walking in the streets not
watching it. What a bummer, no?? Because this weekend was elections
weekend in all of Peru. So on Saturday and Sunday it was illegal to have any kind
of meetings in public places (Church buildings). And it was illegal to sell
alcohol (which I wish they did every weekend!). And yeah, so anyway, they are
going to rebroadcast it next weekend here to Peru for all of us that weren't
able to watch it this last weekend!

Sunday was the day that everyone had
to vote so that was kind of a boring day. But there was one great thing about
Sunday! We found a super sweet new investigator! Her name is F B! I would say
that she is like 35 years old and is pregnant with her first kid! We actually
contacted her in a park a couple of weeks ago with her husband and she gave us
her directions, but Sunday was the first time that we have been able to get a
hold of her and teach her! But she is honestly one of the most prepared people
that I have ever taught! She is super intelligent. And understands what she
reads. Which is always nice, because lots of people don't understand almost
anything that they read. But anyway. We had a super sweet first lesson with
her! And we have an appointment to go back and teach a second lesson when she
and her husband will be there! I got back to the apartment super happy that
night! I wish every day we were able to find investigators that sweet!

But anyways. I'm super grateful to be
here on the mission. It really is the best 2 years. I wouldn't trade this
experience for anything! I have honestly learned so much in these last 14
months! I know the church is true! And every single day my testimony gets
stronger and stronger! I know it's true! NO DOUBTS!

Friday, October 3, 2014

This week has been a long week! Crazy
how fast this time is passing by! This last week was a great week here in
Sullana!

Last Monday night we had a family
night with the member who rents our apartment to us. She is a super sweet lady.
Lots of times at 7 in the morning we can hear her on the first floor and we are
on the third. jaja She's super cool though. Her husband isn't a member, but he is
super cool too. But maybe with a little time he will be able to soften up to
the message as well!

That night we started exchanges. I
worked in my area with Elder P and my companion went and worked with Elder A in
his area. It was super fun working with Elder P for a day. He is from Pisco,
Peru. And he is super funny. That day was great. We were able to teach a lot of
lessons. It would be super cool to have a companion like him. The coolest lesson
that we taught together was to R R. He is the 17 year old investigator that we
found last week. He is super sweet! He actually does what we invite him to do!
He reads the book of Mormon, he reads the pamphlets that we leave him, and he
said that this last week he started praying every night and he feels like
Heavenly Father is helping him in his life! There is one problem though. There
always has to be a problem. There is always at least one. And his is that he
works Sundays. And only Sundays. What are the odds! But this week we are going
to teach about the Sabbath day and hopefully that will help him be able to look
for some other work. He's super cool though!

Marcavelica is sweet. I love going to
Marcavelica on Wednesday and Saturday. Two of the best days of the week always!
We are teaching a family of investigators in Marcavelica. The P family. The dad
is 35 and his wife is like 30. And they have a 6 year old son. They are super
cool. And they are super receptive! Teaching them is sweet! Hopefully we will
be able to help them set a baptismal date this week. That would be the best!
But anyway, we were having a super sweet lesson with them this week when all
the sudden the dad’s mom walks in. She is a member of an Evangelica church. And
of course she comes to visit her son and grandson right during the middle of a
super sweet lesson. But as soon as she arrived, the spirit left. So we decided
to just end the lesson early because there really wasn't a reason to continue
at that point. That was frustrating, but things like that happen sometimes.

This last Friday we had a multi-zone
conference. I love multi-zone conferences. This time it was in Talara. Talara
is about an hour and a half from Sullana so we had to leave at 6 in the morning
from Sullana. There are 2 areas in Sullana that are about a half hour from
actual Sullana. So two of those elders came and slept in our apartment Thursday
night. Elder T and Elder Z. Elder T is super funny. He's actually from my
group. It's super fun talking with him. But anyways, the conference went super
well. I love when president speaks to us. President is the best. He always
helps us feel excited about the mission which I'm super grateful for. One of
the things that I liked about the conference was that we talked a lot about the
role of the spirit here in the work. They talked about how we can't expect the
spirit to be with us if we aren't doing what we are supposed to be doing. He
talked about how if we really want the spirit to be with us we have to be
obedient. This is something super important here in South America because there
are lots of missionaries in this mission that are not so obedient. But that has
to change if we want to see success. Obedience brings blessings. Exact
obedience brings miracles.

Not much else super exciting happened
this last week. I'm so grateful to be here on the mission! The mission has
changed me. The church is true. NO DOUBTS!

Elder Baker

P.S.

About conference this weekend. I'm
not going to be watching it. And neither will anyone else here in Peru. Because
this Sunday are the elections in all of Peru. And it's illegal to have any kind
of meeting in the church. So this Sunday we aren't going to watch conference or
go to church. It's going to be weird. But they are going to rebroadcast it for
all of Peru next weekend 11 and 12 de Octubre. I'm super excited though! I'm
going to have to wait one more week than you guys though!

To answer your question - a groupo
familiar is something smaller than a branch. It actually belongs to some ward
or branch in the mission until it grows big enough to become its own branch.
There are like 8 groupo familiares in the mission right now. They have anywhere
between 10 and 40 people that attend church each week for sacrament.